Devolution and health policy: A map of divergence within the NHS - 1st annual update
April 2007
Conclusions
This report provides a policy signpost that is pointing national health policy in different directions. Since devolution, nations have moved away from one another in key areas of health policy. These changes mean that a UK-wide body has no choice but to promote its members interests through in different political administrations and policy communities.
Across the UK, radical change is on the agenda. All countries are facing common challenges, the concentration of acute services and wider provision of services in community settings: the development of pathways: the search for greater productivity and improving anticipatory care and the case management of people living with long-term conditions. Different nations have placed ‘different bets’ on how best to achieve this.
Doctors cannot avoid being drawn into a conversation on these issues, having little to say will risk marginalising the medical voice in policy debates and implementation planning. Doctors may approach different strategies in various ways, according to the national context, but will share overarching goals.
The policy experiment provides opportunities to learn from initiatives in different countries. By focusing on UK wide policy issues, it is possible to contrast different approaches.